Blog Archives

16 Jun 2022 1 & 2 Kings (Program #5)

1 & 2 Kings (Program #5) – The Reign of Solomon (4)

Prayer is a popular subject among all the people of all faith on the earth today.   But what kind of prayer is God looking for?  Today we are continuing the life study from the Old Testament book of 1 Kings chapter 7 and 8 where we see the building of the temple and specifically the matter of worship to God and prayer.

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16 Jun 2022 2 Peter (Program #6)

2 Peter (Program #6) – The Divine Provision (6)

Second Peter chapter one is one of the most weighty and profound passages in all of scripture. Phrase after phrase in these few verses convey the progression and development of the divine life as it germinates, matures and comes to full growth.

Along this long progression or path all of the attributes of God divine life become the virtues that developed and are ultimately expressed through us. Of course while God supplies the divine power according to Peter which enables us to escape the corruption of the world that work through lust and to become partakers of the divine nature, there are some basic conditions that we need to meet, such as having a full knowledge of all the divine things pertaining to life and godliness.  And in addition we need to add all diligence to co-operate with the divine power operating within us.  The result of  this marvelous development is that God is expressed through us and we in turn are supplied a rich and unshakable entrance into God’s kingdom.

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15 Jun 2022 2 Peter (Program #5)

2 Peter (Program #5) – The Divine Provision (5)

2 Peter 1 leads us through a wonderful progression or development of the precious faith that Peter mentions to us in his first epistle.  This faith, our divine inheritance is like a divine seed imparted or planted into our being.  As with any seed, deep within resides all the attributes of the life of that seed.  Peter clearly tells us that the life in the seed of faith is the very life of God.  It’s Christ Himself.  So the attributes which Peter goes on to describe are the marvelous virtues of God’s life as expressed in Christ.  Following this line these verses in 2 Peter open to us the progressive development of the divine life within the seeker.  As we move from faith to virtues to knowledge to self-control to endurance to godliness and then to brotherly love with the final stage of this life maturity being the very agape love, God’s own love being expressed.

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14 Jun 2022 2 Peter (Program #4)

2 Peter (Program #4) – The Divine Provision (4)

Most of the time Christians are satisfied if their behavior before the unbelieving world reflects a proper ethical conduct and high moral. In fact if we spend our entire day living in such a way surely at the end of our day we will be peaceful and probably feel quite good about ourselves and our testimony.

But the Bible declares what God is seeking from His people is not mere ethics and morality but a life that expresses Godliness, which means a life that expresses God Himself. This is much different, much higher than mere morality.  Listen again to 2 Peter 1:3 “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue.

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13 Jun 2022 2 Peter (Program #3)

2 Peter (Program #3) – The Divine Provision (3)

In a very real sense the first few verses of second Peter encapsulate much of how God will accomplished His eternal plan or economy. Beginning with the gift of faith, we have God’s righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, grace and peace being multiplied in the full knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the divine power operating in the believers in conjunction with their co-operation leading to their escape from lust. Then God’s own glory and virtues and our being called through them and to them. Further we have God’s precious and exceedingly great promises, all of which lead us to become partakers of His divine nature resulting ultimately in our transformation in full salvation. What a tremendous beginning to this short but thoroughly crucial portion of the holy word.

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12 Jun 2022 2 Peter (Program #2)

2 Peter (Program #2) – The Divine Provision (2)

Peter begins his second epistle with the matter of faith. In fact he addresses the epistle “to those who have been allotted faith”. Faith is an mysterious thing and often misunderstood by believers and unbelievers alike. Many people may be even most people think that faith is something that we need to some how produce or find in order to believe. But according to Peter, faith is something allotted to us. The apostle Paul made a similar point in Ephesians, “for by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of yourself it is the gift of God.”

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11 Jun 2022 2 Peter (Program #1)

2 Peter (Program #1) – The Divine Provision (1)

It’s very interesting how Peter begins his two epistles.  The first one begins “Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ.” whereas he begins the second book “Simon Peter, a slave and a apostle of Jesus Christ.”  Simon, of course was Peter’s old name, his name before he came to the Lord Jesus.  Peter is his new name given to him directly by the Lord Himself.

In putting these two together, Peter is indicating something very marvelous about the entire book of of 2 Peter.  For this is the book showing us that under God’s ruling and under His government we see the Old Creation changed into the New Creation.  Simon fit perfectly in the Old Creation but he had to become Peter to make it in the New Creation.

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10 Jun 2022 1 Peter (Program #27)

1 Peter (Program #27) – The Mighty Hand of God and Its Goal (2)

1 Peter is a book written with a specific view to God’s governmental dealing with His people.  It also lays out very clearly as God’s people we should expect sufferings and persecution from time to time in our Christian life.

But Peter did not just leave us with a sober realization that God will measure to us sufferings and trying circumstances in order to discipline us.  Actually the book opens with and concludes with grace.  In fact all throughout the book Peter encourages the believers with grace, not a superficial religious expression but marvelous expressions that convey to us four divine acts of grace to be our supply, our strength and our empowering, to be kept in perfect peace regardless of the outward situation we are faced with.

 

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09 Jun 2022 1 Peter (Program #26)

1 Peter (Program #26) – The Mighty Hand of God and Its Goal (1)

The apostle Peter says “to gird yourself with humility toward one another because God resist the proud.”  Then he says “to be humble under the mighty hand of God.”   Well, humility is a striking virtue in a Christian and genuine humility bears an unmistakable fragrance, a sweet aroma of Christ being expressed in a person’s living.  False, religious humility also carries an identifiable fragrance as well, but not one that attracts and drives man to it.  Of course the greatest humility in the universe is that of the Lord Jesus Himself who humble Himself for our benefits, putting off His own glory and even becoming a slave for us.  God’s desire today is not for us to try to imitate such humility but rather to submit ourselves to His mighty hands, receiving Him not only as our Savior from sin but even as our humility.

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08 Jun 2022 1 Peter (Program #25)

1 Peter (Program #25) – The Elders’ Shepherding and Its Reward (2)

We all know that Peter was first a disciple of the Lord Jesus.  A disciple is a follower, a learner.  Then Peter received the commission from the Lord and became chief among the apostles.  An apostle in the New Testament is a sent one.  It’s in this capacity that Peter is most often referred to.  But in addition to being a disciple and an apostle, Peter was also an elder of the church in Jerusalem.  It is in this status as an elder that Peter writes to the other elders in his first epistle.

Elders are the overseers of the church and as Paul also tells us, these are the leading ones who has been charged by the Lord with a solemn and sober responsibility to care for His most precious possessions, that is His people, the flock of God.  It’s in this charge that Peter brings the attention of all the elders past, present and future that their responsibility must extend even to the risk of their own lives.

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